On the intersection of technology, media, politics, culture, and everyday life

June 12, 2008

Would you lend a stranger $10,000? How about $1,000? Prosper thinks people will (for a return). The site combines the concepts of social networking, online auctions, and microcredit. Borrowers set up personal profiles, that describe not just their financials, but also their interests, social habits, a short pitch on why they are a good bet, and, of course, a photo. Since its start in 2006, Prosper has gained more than 700K members and $140M in loans (like online campaign fundraising, most are small by many e.g. $5K funded by 50 people lending $100 each).

Unlike Kiva, Prosper is targeted for the developed world (see also UK based Zopa). How to monetize social capital is a multi-million dollar question in our 3.0 world. Aside from a hypothesis about efficiency (more of the spread going directly to lenders), I wonder how significantly human and social considerations play a role on Prosper (easing funding between friends/acquaintances or people with similar affinities) -- there is also a Facebook app. In our increasingly de-humanized financial markets, is there a special appeal for returns that also have an emotional value? (Note: some bumps in performance data: renegade analysis + some official numbers)

March 04, 2008

Kluster, already receiving much buzz, is one of the latest websites harnessing the wisdom of the masses. Unlike digg, wikipedia, or youtube, aside from allowing participants to post and vote, from the get go this social network is translating collaborative user-generated sparks into real dollars and products. Anyone can post ideas or invest watts in (hopefully) winning ideas that are financially rewarded by businesses seeking crowd sourced solutions.

There are various recent examples of sites forging a more direct connection between longtail producers and funders (Kiva), customers (Etsy), or collaborators (Netsquared mashup challenge). Kluster's "advanced algorithm" for decision making, hipster language, and clean interface may differentiate it from other sites similarly seeking to facilitate community generated solutions for big industry (see also InnoCentive and Cambrian House). Will be curious to see whether it produces new taste tests vs. breakthrough drugs. Let 1000 flowers bloom.

May 31, 2007

A fellow New Yorker is asking for $11.11 donations to help fund his "world project" -- his seven month trip, traversing seven continuents, diving in seven oceans, and visiting seven ancient wonders of the world. (Um, sign me up.) So far he's raised over $2,500.

Cleaver ways to get trips sponsored is not new. A couple generated much publicity from Wal-Marting Across America. I wouldn't be surprised if a traveler who aimed to visit flagship McDonalds as his path across the world got some funding from the golden arches.

Mr. Hildago's itinerary doesn't include chain stores. Instead he's built a website, on the luck of seven, and is collecting funds by playing on online social neworking ties and new media. He will use blogs, vlogs, wiki, and flickr to document his journey. Couchsurfing, twitter, myspace, and facebook will support his accomodations, activities, and experiences along the way. He's already used Blip.tv as a promotional tool. In return, he notes that "your stories, your connections, and your friends come together into OUR story." (Yes, the funds also help support his book). Hope he makes his journey.

October 27, 2006

College senior Jeremy David is conducting an experiment. He is ""installing Web 2.0" into his life and open sourcing his everyday decisions to the public via his website. The only life choices off limits are who he hearts and unreasonable actions (he is not a hit man). So far, his choice of Halloween costume, a dragon, drew a scant 10 voters. However, he seems to be very conscious about building a buzz machine and is proactive about getting attention (by emailing prominent bloggers and even Oprah). We'll see if he builds up a Lonelygirl15-like following.

About the same time last year, a young guy from Hoboken NJ with a day job in computers Web 2.0-ed his wardrobe. His dresskevin.com site let people vote on each piece of the outfit he would wear each day (miraculously he usually matched). Within a few months he was discovered by the media circuit (and began receiving calls from clothing companies offering some fashionable additions to his closet).

October 20, 2006

For fun, my friend and I wrote down predictions: "Will be attempting original ideas in graduate school", "Still with but not married to 'John', etc etc... We sealed those thoughts and dreams in an email, not to be opened for 5 years. (Forgotten, then recently remembered and opened, some predictions turned out amusingly false).

Much more sophicated and scaled is another digital time capsule by Yahoo!. Unlike the intimate shoeboxes of the past buried in that secret backyard nook, the era of Web 2.0 is one of the communal shoebox showcased on a public web. For 30 days from October 10 to November 8th people worldwide can contribute (and view and comment on) personal photos, writings, videos, and audio as a mosiac snapshot of what is meaningful in this moment of history. So far nearly 52,000 men and women have contributed (most about "Love" and "Beauty" and least about "Anger" and Sorrow") to this electronic anthropology project to be entrusted to Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Tied nicely to the theme of leaving behind a public digital legacy, Yahoo! is also donating $100K among seven charitable organizations that participants help select.

Aside from the Yahoo! Time Capsule, other projects are likewise capturing ordinary life to be shared with generations to come in digital form. Since 2003, StoryCorps has recorded over 8,000 voices of everyday people commenting on their lives (some of which can be heard online). Perhaps the popularity of user-generated content (and reality tv) exemplifies a yearning to be seen and recorded in our everyday live, or perhaps alternatively it can be interpreted as a desire to see and relate to the rest of the billions of us out there. Personally, for now, me and my friend are keeping the particulars of our email time capsule private.

August 15, 2006

Even my grandpa has likely now heard of MySpace. Launched in 2003, MySpace hosts over 100 million members -- enough eyeballs to be eagerly gobbled up by Rupert Murdoch. Starting slightly earlier, but growing far slower is the Couch Surfing Project. It's 105,518 members, like MySpace and other social networking sites, feature personal profiles detailing each person's gender, age, interests, musical/film/book tastes, and the kinds of people they like to meet. A key added detail is whether their homes' couch is available for a wandering traveler in search of an authentic experience to crash for awhile. In 207 countries, members of the site can search within a 20 km/mile radius for a friend and home at their next vacation/exploration destination.

Perhaps the Couchsurfing Project's slower growth is because its a nonprofit with member-driven development and no advertising revenues. Or perhaps the culture of connecting online is still fragile. Maybe it is easier to forge enough trust to buy a good, go on one date, and check out a band, then it is to lend out one's couch with a pay-it-forward ethos. Regardless of its more modest uptake, the site offers a great window into other uses for social networking sites outside of promoting a band/film/product or finding one's next date.